The multibillion dollar cost of poor customer service [INFOGRAPHIC]

New research carried out by NewVoiceMedia, offers a compelling view of the consequences of poor customer service in the US. The results reveal that an estimated $41 billion is lost by US companies each year following a bad customer experience.

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Nicola is corporate communications director at NewVoiceMedia. She will mostly blog about customer service, industry news, events and company updates. Follow Nicola on Twitter at http://twitter.com/nbrookespr

It seems costumer service became an unnecessary service for a huge majority of businesses. Lousy call centers with rude operators who dare to hang up on you, restaurants rather loose business than listening to guest complains about bad food or bad service , car repairs who constantly see a woman as an easy pray … My career in service started at age 16 in Germany and the never-ending mantra one was teaching us was : The customer is King ! My wife and I have started last year to build a consultant firm ,specialized for businesses to improve service and gain in reputation and business income. Reading your article today was a huge surprise to us , we knew about the poor or bad service but never expected a sky-high loss as you estimate . We ask for anyone who is interested in this field to contact us – we are eager to learn more and network . Short reference at the end that we have hanging on our office wall 19 Awards for Outstanding Costumer Service ourselves . Please contact. Thank you.

What’s the cost of bad customer service? Billions! NewVoiceMedia has provided some excellent research in the form of an infographic on the cost of bad customer service. This is one slice of a pie we should all want to avoid.

I would like to say that the service industry is missing out on a whole segment of the market by not providing a great experience. That market is the challenged (disabled). I would like to relay an incident which will show you just what I mean. It was a Friday night in September; my friend and I went to a local pub for dinner. When I walk anywhere, I stagger like I’m drunk, and by now you have heard my speech pattern. I walked into the pub, made my way over to the table. We sat down opposite each other, so we could talk. The waiter came over to the table, greeted the table, then looking directly at my friend, he asked “what would you like, and what would he like”. It was like I had no brains. I was insulted.

I called the waiter back, and informed him that I was paying my part of the bill, and he would not be getting a tip from me.

I felt quite justified in this stance, but now looking back on with the benefit of 6 years, I could have handled this whole situation better. Number one, I could have sat down with this young fellow and explained the way he handled me was not very good. Now whenever I experience poor customer service I don’t get angry, I think, “Ah, a Training Opportunity.” Bad customer service can be changed to great with the right training.

How could he have handled this better? Look the customer in eye, and ask the same questions he would have asked any other customer. If for whatever reason the customer cannot answer for himself, his friend will speak up for him. You can never go wrong treating every customer with respect and dignity. It was this incident that made me more determined to become a better trainer. For more details, go to michaeldhaines.com

Biffken

75% think calling is the most effect for a quick response and 59% prefer contact by phone?

Great infographic… that says it all. If you take the importance of customer service for granted, then you know what you’re going to lose if you don’t plan your business accordingly. That’s the impact of customer service – you can turn things around, for the better or worse.